After Hours
by rainstormcandles
Summary: When Reggie and Twister sneak out to go surfing, they are surprised to find their friendship change into something more. Getting grounded turns out to be more of a reward than punishment as they sneak around, trying to keep their relationship a secret. Reggie x Twister
1. Chapter 1

"Reggie," called a voice, muffled by the closed window.

Reggie looked up from her laptop as someone began knocking on her window.

"Reggie, are you up?"

She got out of her bed and opened the curtains. _Twister, _she thought, _of course. _This hadn't been the first time one of the guys had used the half pipe next to her window to his advantage. Usually it was Otto trying to sneak in or out when he was grounded. Since he was grounded again, she assumed he'd told Twister to come by and bring some footage to keep himself entertained (and maybe see what he needed to change to nail that 1440 flip.)

She opened the window and Twister proceeded to fumble in.

"It's tonight," he said excitedly.

"Shh, you're going to wake Raymundo," she said looking at the door. "What are you talking about?"

"Night surfing, it's happening tonight," he whispered eagerly.

"What? How did you find out? Oh man, Otto's gonna be pissed."

"Why? He's been waiting to go night surfing for forever," Twister said confused.

Reggie gave him a look. "Hello? He's grounded for the rest of the month. There's no way he's sneaking out this time. You should've seen how mad Raymundo was. If he got caught sneaking out two days after he got grounded, Raymundo would kill him. And if we wake him up for this, we're condoning his behavior and we're gonna get busted too."

"Okay, okay, but we-"

They heard a noise and both fell silent, looking around for a few seconds.

Twister lowered his voice, "we can still go. Come on, get ready."

She gave him a skeptical look.

"Reg," he said, "we've been hearing about how awesome it is for all these years. This is the first year we actually know when it's happening. And besides, this is your last summer before senior year. Who knows if you'll even be around next summer for it? Come on, we can't miss out. It's gonna be wicked."

She gave him a smile.

"Go get my board from the back, I'll meet you outside."

As they rode their bikes along the pier, they could already hear people out in the ocean. They could see bright, colorful lights coming from the beach. They pulled their bikes in and hopped off, grabbing their boards as their feet hit the sand. They looked around, then smiled at each other as they started running towards the water. They grabbed some glow bracelets that were sitting out for everyone before running into the ocean. The water felt great, especially compared to the cool air. They paddled out, keeping a distance from the crowd. They recognized a lot of people that they had never really talked to. They usually hated crowded waves, but the atmosphere that night was so vibrant, they couldn't help but enjoy all the people there.

Twister knew he'd be dead if his parents found out he was there. Whenever they hear anything about people surfing at night, they go on and on to Twister about all the dangers. They suspected Lars used to go with his friends, but since Lars never listened to them, Twister would get even more lectures. Twister and Reggie both knew that Raymundo and Tito used to go night surfing with everyone. They always pretended they didn't and denied stories they had previously told. Once the kids got old enough to actually do it themselves, Raymundo started getting way more paranoid about it. They'd both be in trouble with him if he found them out there.

Since neither of them had been surfing at night before, it was a little harder to see when a good wave was coming. They knew they should stick to pretty chill waves to be safe. They were both able to get plenty of good waves before the water started to calm down for a little while. They laid on their boards, feeling the waves rolling under them. They took in their surroundings, from the light of full moon shining down on them to the guy being mocked by his friends after beefing it. They saw all the people dancing on the beach and listened as the music seemed to get louder, but the world somehow felt quieter.

"It's probably getting late," Reggie said after awhile.

Twister smiled. "It was late when we got here," he teased her.

She splashed him and they started paddling back to shore.

"Let's just stay a _little_ longer," he said once they were on the sand and started feeling the warmth from the bonfire. She shot him a look, but couldn't hide her smile. "I'll make you a s'more," he joked as he headed for the marshmallows.

They didn't know how long they had been sitting by the fire, but they had almost completely dried off. The fire was warm and the air was cool. Twister still had some marshmallow on the side of his mouth from where Reggie had smeared it against his face after he tried to eat the s'more he had promised to her. Most everyone had already gone home and it was quiet. They didn't know what time it was. Probably somewhere around three or four in the morning.

They pulled their bikes into the cul-de-sac and hopped off to try to quietly put their boards in the back. They climbed up the ladder to the half-pipe and sat at the top. For awhile, they were silent. They looked at the stars and looked out at the world that seemed to be so still.

"This has been the most incredible night," Reggie said as she watched the sky.

Twister looked at her and smiled.

"Thanks for making me go," she joked, nudging him with her shoulder.

Twister was still smiling, but he didn't say anything. He looked down, then back up at her. Reggie could feel her heart beating faster as he leaned forward. His lips were soft against hers. She put her arms around him and pulled him closer, feeling the salt from the ocean still on his skin as she pressed her hands against his back. She felt him putting more strength in the kiss, then slow down before gently pulling away. They glanced up at each other, but didn't hold eye contact, neither one of them having fully processed what had just happened. Twister ran his hand through his hair and started awkwardly making his way to the ladder.

"Well, um, I guess, uh... goodnight," he said as he started climbing down.

Reggie sat there for a little while longer, watching him make his way back to his house before she climbed in the window. She changed into her pajamas and laid down on her bed, playing the scene over and over again in her mind. She glanced over at the clock, 4:12am. She was wide awake.


	2. Chapter 2

She woke up and glanced over at her clock. It was 11:35. She laid in her bed, thinking. She couldn't get Twister out of her mind. She looked over at the window and had a flashback of hearing that first knock. That's where the night had started. It had been such an amazing night. Why did it have to end with such confusion? Why did Otto have to be grounded? If he would have been there with us, this would have never happened. She felt a twinge of pain at the thought. She was glad it happened. But why was she glad? She had never thought of Twister like that before. Sure, she had noticed that over the years he had gotten pretty good looking, but she had never thought of him in a romantic sense. She turned over and put her arm over her head, becoming aware of how gross her hair felt from the salt water and the sand. She got up and walked to the bathroom. _Yikes,_ she thought as she looked in the mirror. She hoped she hadn't looked this rough last night. _Last night,_ she thought, _when Twister kissed me. _She took a deep breath. It did happen, didn't it? It felt so surreal, almost like it was only a dream. _It did happen,_ she confirmed to herself.

She got dressed and threw her hair up in a bun. She tried to figure out what to do with herself. She usually just hung out with Otto or Twister. She didn't have as many options after Sam had moved away last year. She thought about calling Trish or Sheri, but decided against it. They would definitely know something was up and she didn't want to talk about it. At least not until she had figured out what she was thinking. She opened up the curtains and saw that spot on the top of the half-pipe. The spot where they had kissed. She remembered how his lips felt against hers and started getting that weird feeling in her chest again. She had experienced butterflies before, but this was something entirely different. It was uncharted territory. Why was she feeling this way? She and Twist were buds. She didn't think... She needed to get him off of her mind. She went downstairs and hopped on her bike, heading for the Shack, making a point not to look over at his house as she passed it.

As she walked in, she saw the back of his red hair. She knew she couldn't turn back. Raymundo had already spotted her. "Hey Reg!" he called over to her from behind the counter. Twister coughed on the sip of coke he had just taken and turned around to see her. She smiled and waved at both of them and took a seat next to Twister.

"Hi," she said as she sat down.

"Oh, uh, hi," Twister said, still avoiding eye contact.

What was probably about thirty seconds felt like an eternity as neither of them knew what to say. It was so weird how different the comforting silence of the previous night was from the painfully awkward silence they were currently experiencing.

"Do you..." Twister started, breaking the silence but not really know where he was going with it. "Do you, um, want some fries?"

"Sure," Reggie replied, grabbing a fry and being thankful she had something to do other than just sit there.

Another long stretch passed by as they ate their fries in silence.

"So, I-" Reggie started, happy that Tito walked to the counter and interrupted their attempt at a conversation.

"Hey there, Little Cuz, what can I get you?"

"Burger and a strawberry shake," she replied quickly.

"You got it," he said walking over to the stove.

It was bad enough when they were sitting there by themselves, but now Tito was there and he was sure to notice. Twister must have had the same thought, because he got up.

"Um, I think I'm gonna head out. I, uh, I have some stuff I need to do."

"Oh. Ok," Reggie replied.

"Hey," he called back. Reggie turned around. "Maybe we could... talk later?" He sounded nervous and unsure of himself.

"Oh, uh, yeah. Sure."

He gave a confirming nod and turned back around to walk out.

Reggie woke up the next morning, still as confused as she had been the previous day. For the rest of the day, she had tried to distract herself with stuff like the Zine, but she couldn't focus. She knew she should have tried to contact Twister. He was the one who had asked if they could talk. She felt like it was her turn to bring it up and try to make some sort of a definitive plan. She hadn't talked much to her dad or Otto, but luckily they both talked so much that they didn't really notice. She grabbed her phone and propped herself up against the headboard.

'So about last night...' she typed, then deleted it. She didn't want to have this conversation over the phone. She looked over at the faded glow bracelets sitting on her dresser and smiled. She still didn't even know what she thought or what she would say. She decided to take the easy approach, simply sending, 'hey.'

Her phone buzzed almost immediately. She was surprised. Twister had a tendency to lose or forget his phone. She looked at the screen.

'Hey.'

Of course. He wasn't giving her much to work with, but she couldn't be all that surprised since she had sent the same thing. She typed and deleted messages a few times, trying to find the right thing to say.

'Do you wanna meet up later? Maybe we could meet at the beach at 9?'

She wanted to make sure the plan was in her control. If they met at 9, that gave her the rest of the day to try to figure out what she was going to say. The beach would be dark and deserted by then so they wouldn't have to worry about being weird around other people.

'Yeah, that sounds good.'

She tossed her phone on the bed and pulled the pillow over her head.

When she got to the beach, she could already see the red-headed figure sitting down by the shore. She had gotten there a few minutes early and wondered how long he had been there. She took a deep breath and walked over, sitting down next to him on the sand.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," she replied.

They didn't say anything for a few minutes but it wasn't like the silence before at the Shack. They could still feel some awkwardness hanging in the air, but the sound of the crashing waves seemed to balance it out.

"I," Twister cleared his throat, "I didn't mean to..." He was obviously trying to find the words to say, unable to remember the conversation he had practiced to himself earlier. "I know that kiss might have been weird for you. And I'm sorry. I didn't want to cause any problems or ruin our friendship or anything. I... I like you, Reg. I sort of have for awhile now. I don't know what came over me last night. It was the night surfing- it did something to me. I would never want to do anything to make you feel uncomfortable around me and I totally understand if you want to just forget this ever happened."

He looked down and gulped. Reggie waited a few seconds to make sure he was finished.

"Twister," she paused and he looked up at her. "Honestly, I don't really know what I'm thinking or feeling right now. This is all really new for me, crossing the friendship line into something else. I have been trying to figure it out and I still feel so confused." He looked down and she put her hand on his arm. "But I don't want to forget this ever happened. It was a great kiss."

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Yeah."

He smiled and they both looked out to the water, watching as the waves meeting the shoreline. She grabbed his hand and clasped her fingers around his. It was weird to her how perfectly his hands seemed to fit with hers. She took in the feeling of his skin, rough with callouses. She rubbed her thumb along his and turned to him.

"I wanna give this a shot," Reggie started. "I don't know how it will turn out, but I think we should see. We can't just go back to the way things were now. I know this is a risk for our friendship, but our friendship has already changed, I mean... we kissed. I think we should see where this goes. It might not work out, but it might be really great."

"So are you saying we get together?"

"Well, yeah..."

Twister paused before replying. "So... does that mean I can kiss you again?"

Reggie smiled. "I would hope so."

He reached his free hand up to her face, pulling her in and pressing his lips to hers. She felt a warmth go through her whole body, most prominently in her chest. His hand felt sandy as he pressed it to the back of her neck. Suddenly, they both jerked away, feeling the cold tide wash in against their feet. They laughed and Twister grabbed her hand, helping her up.

"Come on," she said as she pulled him with her, "I'm not ready to leave just yet."

She took him further back on the beach where the tide wouldn't reach them and they laid down in the sand, looking up at the stars. As they laid there, it was clear to both of them that the awkwardness had overall passed. They felt completely comfortable with each other again, talking and laughing. When Reggie would point out a constellation, Twister would make up his own version of the mythology. They would get into an argument about which star was where and Twister would realize he hadn't been looking at the right constellation in the first place, so he'd make up a new one. She felt comfort as she laid on his chest while his arm was around her, stroking her hair. She knew she was getting tired, but she didn't want to move. She was getting to the point where she couldn't reply to him with words, but with "mhmm."


	3. Chapter 3

"That's them!"

They both jerked up, started by the voice yelling and shining a flashlight in their direction. They squinted their eyes and put their hands up to try to block out the blinding light and see who it was. They saw Officer Shirley headed towards them with red and blue lights flashing from the street. They were still in a sleepy daze when they saw Raymundo, Twister's parents, Otto, Tito, Lars, Lieutenant Tice, and a few other officers running towards them. Mrs. Rodriguez ran up and hugged Twister crying about how worried she had been. Raymundo seemed to have skipped past the relief in finding them and gone straight to anger.

"Where in the world have you kids been? Do you have any idea what time it is? We were worried sick!"

He kept going on and other parents/siblings/friends started yelling too. You couldn't even make out what anyone was saying because they were all talking so loudly at the same time. During all of the chaos, Reggie checked her phone to see what time it was. It was two in the morning. The realization of them having fallen asleep had just hit her. She scrolled through seeing all the missed calls and messages that she had received after she wasn't in by curfew. Both of their phones had been on silent. This was bad. Somewhere in all the commotion, Reggie had ended up being pulled in to the back seat of Raymundo's car. She looked over and saw Twister's parents yelling at him as they walked him to their car. She couldn't think, she was completely out of it, not making out what Raymundo and Otto were saying as they drove back home. She wondered if anyone had seen them cuddled together besides Officer Shirley. From what she could make of their yelling, it didn't sound like they thought anything happened. They just seemed pissed that they didn't come home and couldn't be contacted. She saw police cars leaving as they pulled into the cold-e-sack.

When they got out of the car, Otto was still ranting about how he was the responsible child for once, but Raymundo was silent.

Raymundo shut the front door and sternly said, "Otto, go to bed."

Otto looked like he was about to protest, but then conceded and headed upstairs. Reggie couldn't even look at Raymundo. This was the maddest she could remember having seen him. She was expecting to get chewed out.

"You and I both know how much trouble you're in," he started. She was surprised at how calm he sounded. "However, I do not feel that now is the time to discuss it. There's been a lot of chaos tonight and I need to clear my head before I have this conversation with you. Go to your room. Go to bed. Tito will open up the Shack tomorrow and you and I will talk in the morning."

Neither one of them said another word as they headed to their rooms. Reggie wondered what Twister's parents had done. She climbed into bed and turned out the light, worried of what was to come in the morning.

Despite getting very little sleep, Reggie thought it would be best to wake up early so Raymundo didn't have to wait around all morning (and so Otto would still be asleep instead of listening in.) She walked into the kitchen as Raymundo was pouring a cup of coffee.

"Here," he said handing it to her when he saw her, then grabbing another mug. She didn't say anything but sat down.

"Look Reggie, I know you're a smart kid. I know you and Twister weren't doing anything stupid. Otto's the one who usually ropes you kids into your bad ideas." She let out a small breath of relief. He didn't think anything had happened with them. Not that anything did, but she was glad he just thought they were hanging out, like always. "You have to understand how scary it is as a parent when your kid doesn't come home one night. When it was midnight and I was calling and not getting any answers and you were supposed to have been home an hour before, I was in full-on panic mode. You just can't do that to me, you have no idea how awful it is for a parent. You're my little girl and I love you. I want to do everything I can do make sure you're safe and sound each night." She felt a twinge of guilt as she thought about the night surfing that Raymundo was unaware of. "I'm sure it's no surprise to you that there will be consequences for not coming home last night. To start, you're grounded for the rest of the month. During the day, you'll be joining your brother and helping out at the Shack. You two will stay after closing to do the dishes, clean, and lock up, then you will return straight home. Fair?"

"Yes, sir."

Raymundo left to take a shower and she assumed he would want her to go to work with him, so she finished her coffee and went upstairs to get ready. She saw her phone on her on the desk and grabbed it. She doubted Twister would have been up this early. She had four new text messages from around 3:30 last night.

'Reg?'

'Are you still up?'

'I guess you're asleep, but I wanted to warn you that they're taking my phone away tomorrow.'

'I'm really sorry about all this.'

She sighed. It wasn't his fault. She wondered when she would be able to talk to him again.


	4. Chapter 4

A week had passed and she still hadn't been able to contact Twister at all. She usually didn't mind working at the Shack, but it was one of the busiest times of the year since everyone in the world seemed to always plan their beach trips for mid-June. They were swamped and the customers were incredibly rude. Raymundo and Tito had pretty much gone back to normal, but Otto still pestered her whenever he got a chance. She couldn't figure out if he was mad or impressed. He seemed to not be sure himself. At some points, he complained that she ruined his street cred now that he was the good child that didn't get busted. (The fact that he was still grounded from before didn't seem to phase him.) At other times, he got mad in a protective way because (although he didn't blatantly say it), he had been worried about her too. Sometimes he seemed to make up his own story about her and Twister sneaking around the beach when no one was up so they could go pull some elaborate prank over Lieutenant Tice. That day, he had just been bragging about how it was the last day of his grounding and soon he'd be free to shred MadTown.

Reggie couldn't wait till things turned back to normal and they could all go surfing and skating and Otto would (hopefully) drop this whole thing. She wondered if it would be back to normal now that she and Twister were together. Otto didn't know about them. _He's gonna freak when he finds out,_ she thought. Although, she had to admit, it was kind of fun having him out of the loop for once. He was always excluding one of them, making excuses like "it's a Rocket thing" or "it's a bros only secret."

"Otto," Raymundo called out. "You're free to go."

"Score!" he shouted as he grabbed his skateboard and headed for MadTown.

_Great,_ Reggie thought, _now I'll have even more work to do. _When she stepped into the kitchen, the amount of dishes piled up was overwhelming. After having washed about a fourth of them, Raymundo walked in.

"Hey, Rocket girl, Tito and I are headed out. You okay to lock up?"

"You got it, Raymundo," she said forcing a smile.

He looked around at the stacks of dishes and frowned.

"You need any help with those?"

"No, I'm okay," she tried to say convincingly. "Really."

"Okay, if you're sure. I'll leave you to it. See you at home," he said before walking out.

The next morning Reggie sat confused in the front seat of the car as her dad pulled to the curb in front of the Rodriguez' house.

"Dad, what are we doing?"

"Since Otto won't be joining you anymore, I figured you could use some help" Reggie glanced up and saw Mrs. Rodriguez saying something to Twister and fixing his tag as they stood as he tried to leave. "I talked to Sandy and Raul last night," Raymundo continued, "and it seems their house has gotten pretty clean over the past week. I suggested that if they ran out of chores for Twister, they could send him to the Shack and we'd find plenty for him to do."

Reggie smiled at her father, "thanks, Dad."

Twister hopped in the backseat behind Raymundo.

"Morning, Twister," Raymundo said.

"Morning, Raymundo," Twister responded, looking out the window at his mother who had a stern look on her face. "I mean, uh, sir," he corrected.

Reggie looked over her shoulder and they smiled at one another. Raymundo started telling Twister about the World Surf League competition. He hadn't seen it, due to the television ban that was part of his punishment. Reggie and her dad described it to him as they drove over. She discovered that his punishment had been harsher than hers, (no tv, no computer, no camera, no phone), but she was surprised to find out that he was only grounded for three weeks.

"Nice to see you again, Little Cuz," Tito said when they talked in.

Although the morning had been slow, Reggie and Twister hadn't gotten a moment alone until after the lunch rush. Reggie was walking out of the freezer as Twister was walking in and they bumped into each other.

"Sorry," Twister said as he bent down to pick up some stuff that had fallen off of the shelf.

"Oh, it's okay," she replied, glad to see him.

He reached next to her and grabbed a box. "Listen," he started, "I'm really sorry about all of this. This has caused everyone to freak and I'm just really sorry I got you into this mess."

"Twist, this is _not_ your fault," she said giving him a smile. "We just-"

"Reg!" they heard Raymundo yell. "Where are you with those fries?"

"Coming!" she replied. " I'd better get back," she said to Twister, quickly kissing his cheek as she left.

"Tito, I think the kids can handle it from here," Raymundo said after pulling down the door.

"You got it, Bruddah," Tito replied as he thew his rag on the counter.

Raymundo turned to Reggie as she was wiping down a table. "I expect between the two of you, you should be able to finish by ten. Call me if you think it'll be later than that."

After they left, Reggie walked into the kitchen to help Twister with the dishes.

"Did you see that shoobie that wouldn't leave?" she asked as she picked up a plate.

"Yeah," Twister laughed, "he got mad at me."

"Why?"

"Well he asked me if I knew of any good restaurants in the area. And he was just sitting there with his empty cup and all these maps and notebooks and I asked him why he needed one since he didn't even order food when he came here."

Reggie laughed and replied, "he also hogged that table all through the dinner rush!"

"How'd you manage to finally get him to leave?"

"I very politely told him we were closing."

Twister snickered.

"What?" Reggie replied.

"I was just imagining you 'politely' telling off that lame-o."

"I was nice... enough," Reggie said as Twister started laughing again.

"Well hopefully your 'nice enough' is enough to keep him from coming back. So did Raymundo and Tito head out?"

"Yep. It's just us."

"Cool," he said as the two of them smiled at each other and continued to wash dishes. "So," he said after a minute, "do you think we should tell people?"

Reggie got a panicked look on her face. "After what happened last week? No way. Not yet."

Twister looked a little hurt and wondered if she was embarrassed by him. "Oh."

"I just mean," Reggie started to explain, "we already got in a lot of trouble. And I don't want anyone getting ideas about why we were asleep on the beach at two in the morning."

"But we just fell asleep," Twister pointed out.

"I know, I just... I just think we should lay low for a little while. At least until all of this dies down."

Twister nodded, "yeah that's probably a good call."

"Besides, they probably wouldn't allow this to be our punishment," Reggie said, giving him a wink.

Twister smiled, "I've definitely had worse punishments. Cleaning my whole house, for instance."

They discussed how their weeks had been and how their families had reacted that night. They were talking more about the World Surf Regionals when Twister accidentally splashed Reggie while rinsing off his dish.

"Whoops. Sorry, Reg," he said.

"Ooh, I'm gonna get you for that," she said splashing him back.

They started splashing each other and Reggie armed herself with the soap, squirting it at Twister. Twister grabbed the sprayer hose off of the sink and smiled. Reggie lurched forward to try to stop him. She grabbed it and was able to slightly divert the hose as he sprayed it. She aimed the soap back at him and he grabbed her wrist to keep her from squirting it again. He set down the sprayer and grabbed her other hand so she couldn't switch it. They laughed and she squirmed, but was unable to break her arms free. She gave up and moved to her tip-toes, leaning forward and kissing him.

"Ew," she laughed as she pulled away, "you taste like soap!"

"You squirted me with soap! What did you expect?"

She didn't care, she pulled him forward and kissed him again. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her harder. She felt herself smiling as they kissed, enjoying the added pressure of his lips. Their lips parted, but their faces still remained close as they looked at each other. Reggie blushed and broke eye contact, looking to the side, still smiling.

"We've made quite a mess," she said after a little while. They parted and he looked around at all the soapy water distributed across the floor and nodded in agreement.

"This sure wasn't what I pictured," he stated, then looked away as if realizing what he had said.

"What do you mean?" she asked as he walked over to the sink.

"Oh," he said shaking his hand through his hair, "I just meant... I never imagined us, you know, sneaking around I guess? Like secretly kissing after a soap battle when no one even knows we're together. It's fun though; exciting."

"So what had you pictured?"

"What?"

"You said this wasn't what you had pictured," she reminded him. "So you had thought we'd get together at some point?"

He was definitely starting to get embarrassed. "Well," he said sheepishly, "I didn't really think we actually would. I just kind of... hoped." He kept trying to busy himself, grabbing a stack of clean plates to put away. Reggie followed him.

"So that first night when we went surfing, you didn't plan that or anything?"

"Not really," he said as he put the dishes on the shelf, "I mean, we'd all been wanting to go night surfing since we first heard about it as kids. And I knew Otto was grounded, but I didn't expect anything to happened. I just was enjoying hanging out with you." He paused and she looked at him, waiting for him to continue. "When we were up on the half-pipe, I don't know, it sounds silly. I- it just felt so right. Never, in a million years, would I have thought I'd ever be brave enough to kiss you like that." Reggie blushed and smiled.

"So, you said before that you've liked me for awhile?" Reggie inquired.

"Yeah."

"So what's 'awhile'?"

"It means, like... an amount of time," Twister teased her.

"Twister," she said, giving him a look, but unable to hide her smile.

"We probably should finish these dishes, huh?"

"So you're just not going to tell me then?" Reggie asked.

"Nope," he said, giving her a quick kiss then starting on the rest of the dishes.


	5. Chapter 5

Twister and Reggie's punishments had gone from being horrible, to more of a reward than a punishment (not that they were going to let anyone know that.) Sure, they still had a lot of work to do at the Shack, and some of the customers could really test Reggie's patience, but after closing, they felt like they essentially were getting mandated to date. They didn't mind washing the dishes, sweeping up, and wiping up the counters now that they had each other as company. They joked around and got in silly competitions. Sometimes they would try to get everything done really quickly so they could have some left over time to just sit on the floor together and eat ice cream, enjoying one another's company. It was so weird to Reggie how she could still feel so comfortable around him despite how fast her heart was racing when they were together. It still felt a little weird to both of them to not have told anyone, but they also enjoyed the rush of sneaking around. Sometimes Twister would pretend he heard someone coming and they would have to rush somewhere, like behind the counter or in the closet, until Twister said the coast was clear. It was funny to her that he didn't just do it when they kissed or cuddled. Sometimes, they would just be washing dishes and talking and he would pretend to hear a noise and they would have to rush away from what they were assigned to do in the first place. He always made her laugh, which they both liked. Most of the not-coming-home fiasco had died down. Twister only had four more days of his grounding. Reggie dreaded thinking about when he stopped coming in and she would be doing all the cleaning alone for her last week. It was a lot for one person. Tito had usually helped Otto whenever he had to clean up, maybe she would help her too. She felt guilty for hoping that since Tito already works non-stop. Plus she probably deserved to do some of the work alone since she had been enjoying doing it with Twister so much.

"Ready?" he asked her as they changed their stance. She nodded. "Set... go!"

The two ran across the front of the Shack, hopping from table to table seeing which person could clean the most tables fastest. They had done this competition before, but Twister had tried to cheat by basically just getting the table wet and moving on. Reggie had to implement some rules by inspecting the tables afterwards to see if they had actually gotten clean or if a ketchup stain was still clearly there. Twister complained about that at first after he had gotten the table of a particularly messy customer, but Reggie explained the choice of table was part of the game and you couldn't go back on your first pick. Twister eventually conceded.

"Done!" she said touching the counter (the finish line.)

"What? No way! How many did you get?"

"Six."

Twister frowned, "five." He inspected them to see if he still had any chance at winning. As he studied the table for any missed spots, Reggie came up behind him and put her arms around his shoulders.

"Face it, I won," she whispered to him. "What's my prize?"

Twister smiled. "Close your eyes." She obeyed. He reached into the bin that was sitting on the chair next to him and pulled out a salt shaker, turning towards her and holding it out in his hand.

"Okay, open." She opened her eyes and laughed.

"This isn't yours to give!" she replied.

"Well, why not?"

"Um, hello? It belongs to the Shack, which belongs to my dad, so it's technically already mine."

"Hey, I've worked here plenty of times out of the goodness of my heart, and did I get paid? No. I can take this salt shaker as a payment for all my labor. And now," he said as he placed in it her hand, "I give it to you." He grabbed her hand and led her to step up onto a chair. "Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to present this top-of-the-line, one-of-a-kind, first prize salt shaker to Miss Reggie Rocket, winner of the Table Cleaning Games." He ran over to the other side and pretended to be a group of cheering fans. Reggie laughed and bowed.

"Thank you, thank you," she said holding her trophy in the air. "I couldn't have done it without the support, and slow cleaning ability of my dear boyfriend, Twister Rodriguez." He made a face at the 'slow' remark, but couldn't help but smile when she called him her boyfriend. She put out her hand to welcome him onto the chair with her. He grabbed it and stood up with her, bowing and giving her an official congratulatory handshake. She laughed and he hopped down and put his hands on her hips to lift her down. She looked at the clock.

"Raymundo will be expecting us to be done pretty soon, we should head back," she said.

"Ah, but first!" he said pulling her into the freezer and grabbing the tub of neapolitan ice cream. "We must have a meal to celebrate your recent victory!"

"I would hardly call ice cream a meal," she said with a smirk.

"I would call it every meal. At least if I had the choice."

"We just washed the dishes," Reggie replied.

"We'll just have to order it to-go then," he said walking to the other side of the room and grabbing two small fountain drink cups. "We can even share the spoon so we don't get two dirty. And I think it's supposed to be romantic."

She giggled, "I think it's two straws that's supposed to be romantic."

"Well we can't eat ice cream with straws," he said as he scooped the strawberry into her cup and the chocolate into his.

"It's two straws in one milkshake. The classic romantic couple thing to do," she said rolling her eyes at the cliché.

"Well that's silly. Then you only get one milkshake and both people are probably secretly mad because they're hungry. This," he said holding up the spoon, "is _far_ more romantic. And we both get our own ice cream."

He handed her the ice cream and they grabbed the key to lock up.

"You're totally hogging the spoon!" he said as they walked home.

"Am not! You've had it for the past five minutes! I _just _got it."

"Ugh," he groaned, "and they say this is supposed to be romantic."

"You were the one who said that!" she shot at him, amused as she watched him try to stick his face in the cup and lick his ice cream. "Here," she said after a few minutes of bickering, handing him the spoon. "I'm finished."

"See! That proves that you were hogging the spoon! I still have half a cup left!"

"All that proves," she said giving him a nudge, "is that you gave me way less ice cream."

"Did not! They were totally even!"

"Yours was over the top of the cup and mine didn't even reach the rim."

"Your word against mine, I guess we'll never know the truth," he said smiling, his lips covered in chocolate. They were almost at his house, when he pulled her behind a hedge.

"What are you doing?"

"Giving you a proper 'goodnight'," he said as he pressed his lips against hers. "We can't have anyone seeing us, now can we?" He stuck his head around the head, checking to make sure the coast was clear before pulling her back out onto the street.

"Goodnight," he said as he turned to his house.

"Goodnight," she smiled back at him, putting her hand in her pocket as she walked. She pulled out the salt shaker and smiled down at it.


	6. Chapter 6

Reggie felt exhausted. It was her first day at the Shack without Twister. She hadn't realized how much easier work had seemed when he was there with her. Otto was psyched that Twister was ungrounded. He'd been going solo at Madtown and the beach ever since he got off the hook. She was glad they Otto and Twister would get to have some much needed bro time, but she still couldn't help from missing having him there with her. Around noon, they came in for lunch. They we're still wet from the ocean as they propped their boards up on the wall.

"Reggie, you gotta come out here. The waves are sick! You should've seen me out there! Twist," Otto said grabbing the camera, "show her the footage you got of me on that one wave."

"You got it, Otto man," he leaned over and showed her Otto surfing through a barrel wave. Their arms were slightly touching and she could smell the ocean water on him.

"Nice job, Rocket boy!" she exclaimed.

"So are you coming or what?" he added taking a seat and asking Tito for a burger and fries.

"Uh, hello? Grounded?" she said motioning around her to show him she was working.

"Just bail or an hour or two, Raymundo will totally understand," Otto said matter-of-factly.

"Raymundo won't understand what?" Raymundo said approaching the counter.

"If Reggie hits the waves with us. Just for a little while. The waves are perfect today and there's hardly anyone else out there," Otto informed him.

"Sorry, Otto, your sister's still grounded."

"Yeah, but you still let me catch a few waves when I was grounded." Otto said, grabbing a fry.

"I _what_?" Raymundo replied with a stern look.

"Oh, nothing," Otto said nervously laughing as he tried to back-track. "Must have been someone else. Twister, why don't you tell them about that cool thing that happened?"

"Huh?" Twister said as he bit into his burger. Otto elbowed him and he realized he was supposed to change the conversation. "Oh. Um. We saw... a dog." Otto glared at him. "And it was... surfing?" Otto hit his hand to his face.

"Well Otto," Raymundo said ignoring Twister, "since you seem to have missed a few hours to go surfing, you can make up for those hours tonight, helping your sister with the dishes."

"Raymundo! That's totally unfair!" Otto protested.

"I wouldn't keep arguing unless you want to help her again tomorrow as well," he said.

"Ugh! Raymundo's being totally lame!" Otto said as he walked into the kitchen later that night.

"Sorry bro, but you probably shouldn't have told him you snuck out to surf when you were supposed to be working."

"I've done that loads of times! He's never cared until now!"

Reggie gave him a look. "Have you ever considered the fact that maybe he never _knew _about all those other times?"

"I have now," he said bitterly as he grabbed an apron and a plate.

"So," she said trying to sound casual. "You and Twist had a good day?"

"Surfing was rad, but then after we had barely even gotten to Madtown, he bailed so he could go 'have dinner with his family'," Otto said in a mocking tone. "Lame."

She didn't respond. She wanted to ask more questions about Twister, but she didn't want Otto to suspect anything. Why did she want to ask him about Twister? They probably just did the exact same thing they do all the time. She never cared about it before, but now he was on her mind.

"Did you ever get that 1440 flip yet?" she asked. She knew if she focused the subject on him, he would be sure to stay on that topic for awhile.

They got done a little early and walked into the house, finding Raymundo asleep on the couch. They sat down and finished the movie he had started, informing him of what he had missed when he woke up.

The following night, she had been doing the dishes by herself for only about fifteen minutes before Twister popped in through the back door.

"What are you doing?" she asked as he walked in.

"I thought I'd come surprise you so you're not alone and bored."

She grinned and wiped her hands off on a towel before putting them around his neck, "you're sweet." She started to kiss him, but the two of them quickly pulled away from each other when they heard the door open.

"Tito!" Reggie said with a flushed face, "I... I thought you left."

"I can see that," he said crossing his arms and looking at the two of them. "I thought you might need some help with the dishes."

"Oh, Twister was just-" she looked at Twister for an answer.

"Yeah, I just came by to-" Twister started, also not knowing where he was going with the sentence. "Then we-" he trailed off again.

"How much did you see?" Reggie asked.

"I saw plenty," Tito replied.

"Are you going to tell Dad?"

"I'm not, but you are. If he finds out like this, he is not gonna be happy. As the ancient Hawaiians used to say, 'ever wave has to come to the shore at some point.'"

"So you want us to go surfing?" Twister asked.

"He wants us to tell everybody the truth," Reggie explained.

"Listen little cuzzes, I'm really happy you two finally figured things out, but you can't stay hidden under a rock. You must share your joy with those around you, or else they're not gonna want to be around you when they find out."

"Thanks, Tito," Reggie said.

Tito started headed to the door, "well, it looks like you've got plenty of help already. Just remember that kissing each other isn't gonna get the dishes clean."


	7. Chapter 7

When Reggie got home, she went straight to her room, hopping on her bed and wondering how she would explain to people that she and Twister had started dating. Tito had handled the news fine, but it was Tito. How would other people react? Confused? Upset? She needed advice. She picked up the phone and waited while it rang.

"Hello?" a familiar voice said.

"Sammy, hey!"

"Hey Reg, what's up?"

The gang still tried to keep in touch with Sam, but it was hard when he was so far away. His mom had gotten a job offer the summer before his junior year. None of them wanted to split up the group. Usually he'd here from one of them every few weeks. Reggie had to remind Otto and Twister to keep up with him.

"Just got off at the Shack. What about you?"

"Physics homework."

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said, "Am I keeping you?"

"No, no. I'm glad to take a break. It's good to hear from you."

She hadn't called in a few weeks. Between her working all day and him taking summer classes to try to graduate by December, neither of them at been good at keeping in touch lately. She felt guilty knowing she had basically just called for advice.

"Yeah, you too! How have the summer classes been going?"

"Great! Did you know the sun fuses 620 million metric tons of hydrogen per second?" he said excitedly as she wondered how in the world he thought he might know that. "It's astounding! The correspondence between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state- sorry. I'm sure this is probably not as fascinating to you."

"Oh, but that's really cool about the sun though," she said trying to reassure him, although she was thankful he had stopped. "So school's good?"

"Yeah, and I think I'm going to try out for goalie on the hockey team this upcoming semester." He hadn't wanted to try the previous year, having just moved there and trying to get settled in.

"Aw, Sam, that's awesome! I'm so glad!"

"Yeah, so what's new with you?"

"Well, actually..." she started, uncertain of how to bring it up. "We haven't talked in awhile. And..." she opened the window and crawled out to make sure Otto couldn't hear her.

"Out with it Reg, you're being evasive."

"Twister and I are dating," she blurted out.

"What?" he practically screamed through the phone. "I didn't think he'd ever make a move!"

"Sammy, what are you talking about?"

"I mean, it's just that he's liked you for so long, but he didn't seem like he planned to do anything about it."

"What? He told you he liked me? Sam!" Reggie wondered how long Twister had liked her. If Sam had known about it, it had to have been more than a year.

"Please. He didn't have to tell me. It was so obvious. I never knew if you were just trying to ignore it to spare his feelings or if you really didn't see it. Evidently, it was the latter."

"Well, what do I do?"

"What do you mean? You guys are together. What's left to figure out?"

"Well," Reggie started, "no one really knows we're together except you. And Tito. How do I tell them? Isn't it kind of weird?"

"Reggie, they'll be fine. They can take it. The only person I'd worry about it-"

"Otto," they said at the same time.

"Yeah," Sam said, "and as much as it scares me to say this, I really think you should let Twister handle that one."

"Twister? But he's not really that great under pressure. And this is gonna a sensitive subject to tell Otto. Twister-"

"Is his best friend," Sam finished. "Otto needs to hear it from him."

Reggie and Sam continued their conversation. She filled him in on everything that had gone down the past few weeks and he told her more about his life. When she hung up, she went back inside and headed downstairs to see if Raymundo was still up. She found him sitting on the couch with a bag of popcorn.

"Hey Reg," he said as he saw her walk down, "wanna join?" he said offering her some popcorn.

"Um, sure, Dad," she said as she ate a few pieces. "Hey, Dad?" she said hesitantly. "Can I talk to you about something?"

He paused the tv and turned to her. "Of course. What's wrong, sweetheart?"

"Nothing's wrong. It's just..." she wondered how come it wasn't getting easier to explain it. "You know Twister..."

"Yes," he confirmed, "I believe I've met him once or twice."

"Well... Twister and I are kind of together now."

"It's about time! So he finally got the nerve to ask you out?"

"Well, sort of," she said remembering that first kiss before fully processing what he had said. "Wait, what? You knew too?"

"About his crush on you? Well he wasn't very good at hiding it," Raymundo laughed.

"Did everyone know about this except me?" she said slightly annoyed.

"I doubt Otto ever picked up on it. I swear, he's so focused on himself all the time, he misses everything happening around him. How'd he take the news?"

"Well, he doesn't exactly know yet."

"You better tell him quick. He's got a big ego. If he thinks you told anyone else first, I don't think he'll take it well."

"How do you think he'll react when we tell him?"

"My guess is as good as yours. Some days, it seems like he couldn't care less what others do with their lives. Other days, he takes everything as a personal attack to him. You and your brother are close. Even if he takes it badly, he'll come around some time."

That didn't exactly comfort her, especially since Twister would be the one having to deal with it. She wondered if they could tell him together. _No way,_ she thought, _that would be much worse. _Still, she hated leaving Twister to have to do it on his own. Maybe it would be okay though. Everyone else had reacted fine. More than fine; they all seemed to have seen it coming. Just how long _had_ Twister liked her? And how did everyone seem to pick up on it but her? She went upstairs, throwing on an old t-shirt and some sweatpants. She climbed in bed and wrapped herself up under the blankets as she dialed Twister.

"Hello?" Twister answered, leaving Reggie feeling strangely comforted by the sound of his voice.

"Hey there," she said smiling and leaning back against her pillow. "So I told my dad. And Sam," she added.

"Oh yeah? How'd they take it?"

"They took it great. Apparently, they had both seen it coming for awhile now."

"Oh... really?" Twister asked in a slightly higher tone.

Reggie thought he might be embarrassed if he found out they had known about him liking her. "Yeah, I guess they just thought we'd be a good match. And I can't say that I disagree."

"I agree too. I mean, I don't not agree- disagree," he said, confusing himself. "I told my parents too. They flipped out. My mom was so excited she started hugging me and telling me how she was so glad I had found such a nice girl. She went on about how great you were and how proud she was of me. And as my mom tried to hug me to death, my dad started giving me all these rules I needed to follow about treating you right and respecting you and all this stuff. Then my mom decided you need to come over for dinner. I tried to talk her out of it, but she had made up her mind, so I think we're stuck."

"I'd love to have dinner with your family! We'd have to wait until after this week since I'm still grounded, but that sounds great!"

"You're forgetting that Lars is part of my family," Twister said sourly.

"Oh, right. So he knows too?" she said hoping it wouldn't get around to Otto before Twister could talk to him.

"He will when you come for dinner. He was out with his friends tonight," Twister paused before asking the question he was afraid to hear the answer to. "What did Otto say?"

"I haven't told him. Sam said he thought it would be better if you told him."

"What? Me? Since when does the Squid know anything?" he thought about it, "Ok so he knows like everything, but not about this! Otto's gonna whomp me for sure when I tell him I've been secretly making out with his sister for the past three weeks and we've told everyone but him!"

"Well, I wouldn't exactly phrase it like that," Reggie joked.

"Reggie, come on, this is serious."

"I know. I'm sorry. I think Sam has a point though. I think it'd be better if he heard it from his best friend. Just... try to tell him gently. Maybe think of some ways it would benefit him?"

"Are there any?"

"Not that I can think of at the moment. I'm sorry, Twister."

"It's fine. You're probably right anyway."


	8. Chapter 8

It had been two days since Reggie had seen either Twister or Otto. Every time she had talked to Twister, he said he still hadn't told Otto. He promised her he would do it today for sure. She hoped he had already done it when they walked into the Shack late that afternoon for lunch. By the fact that Otto was acting completely normal, she assumed he was still clueless. She grabbed Twister's arm and pulled him to the side while Otto sat down and ordered.

"You still haven't told him yet, have you?" she fussed at him in a whispered voice.

"I was about to, but then-"

"Twister, the longer you wait, the worse it's going to be. And if you don't tell him soon, someone else will."

"Okay, okay!" he said and made his way back to the stool next to Otto.

Reggie glared at Twister and he mouthed back, "after lunch." She rolled her eyes and went back to bussing a table.

"What's her deal?" Otto asked.

"Oh, I don't know," Twister lied.

After they ate, Twister and Otto started walking down the boardwalk.

"What's your problem, man? You've been acting weird all day and you barely even ate your food! I don't think I've ever seen you not finish a meal!"

Twister knew he had to tell him. "So you like hanging out with Reggie, right?"

"Yeah," Otto replied, annoyed as he wondered where Twister was going with this.

"And, you and me- we're buds?"

"Duh. Does this have a point?"

"So the thing is, the three of us hang out usually. And you were grounded before, so you couldn't hang out with us. That means it was just me and Reggie hanging out."

"Can you get to the point already?" Otto snapped.

"Me and Reggie are couple... of people... who might possibly be... together in a slightly romantical type of way," Twister said, wincing.

"You're dating my sister?" Otto was clearly pissed.

"Um, yeah."

"You got together when I was grounded? So weeks ago? And you didn't even bother to tell me? Wait," Otto said as if he just realized something, "is that what was going on that night you guys got busted for not coming home?" He got angrier as he started to draw his own conclusions whileTwister tried to defend himself. "That's why you were on the beach? You were trying to feel up my sister or something?"

"No! Otto, dude, it's not like that, I didn't-"

"I can't believe you'd do this to me! I thought we were bros!"

"We are! Otto, just let me explain!" Twister yelled as Otto skateboarded away.

Twister went back to the Shack, looking around for Reggie.

"Twister, hey. Where's Otto?" she said as he walked over.

"I have to talk to you," he said pulling her outside.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Otto completely wigged and he's never going to speak to me again!" Twister told her, his voice panicky.

"What?"

"Yeah. I told him we were together now and he freaked out. He started accusing me of all this stuff and he said I betrayed him and he left without even letting me explain!"

"Twister, I'm so sorry," she said pulling him in for a hug. He held her tight, resting his chin on her head. "I'm going to talk to him tonight, okay?" she said pulling away so she could look in his eyes. He nodded. She put her hand on his cheek and tried to give a reassuring smile. "Otto's a reactor, you know? He might just need some time to process this?" she gave him a kiss and squeezed his hand. "It's going to be fine."

"Otto!" Reggie yelled, banging on his door.

"Go away!"

"We need to talk!" she said, knocking louder.

"Why don't you go talk to your boyfriend? You and him can go make all sort of plans to stab me in the back!" Otto shot back.

"What is going on?" Raymundo yelled angrily, walking into the hallway.

"Otto's being crazy and making up all sorts of things and he won't talk-"

Otto opened the door and started yelling. "I am not! Reggie's the one who stabbing me in the back and stealing my bro and she's in cahoots with him and they've just been plotting-"

"I don't want to hear it!" Raymundo yelled. He opened his mouth to say something else, but stopped when he heard knocking at the front door. "Wait here," he told them in a stern voice. Reggie and Otto crossed their arms and wouldn't look at each other as Raymundo headed downstairs.

"Rocket!" a highly perturbed voice yelled as he opened the door. Merv Stimpleton stood in the doorway in his pajamas. "What do you think you're doing in here? How is anyone supposed to sleep through all this racket? Your hooligan kids are going to wake up the whole neighborhood!"

"Lay off, Merv!" Otto yelled from upstairs.

"That's Mr. Stimpleton to you, young man!" Merv yelled back.

"Merv, why don't you let me handle my kids on my own?" Raymundo told him, clearly frustrated.

"Merv! What are you harassing this nice children for?" a shrill voice came up behind him. Violet Stimpleton walked up in a robe, with her hair in rollers, grabbing his arm and pulling him away.

"Violet! These children are causing chaos to the entire neighborhood!"

"Please excuse Merv," she said apologetically, "he's just cranky at night. I'll take him home. I hope we didn't disturb you too much, goodnight!"

"Goodnight," Raymundo replied, shutting the door then walking back up to Reggie and Otto.

"You two. Sit" he said pointing at the couch. They walked down and sat on opposite ends of the couch, still refusing to look at each other. "Now. Explain." They both started trying to talk and Raymundo cut them off. "Aaap, aap, aap. Reggie first."

"Otto was totally harsh on Twister today! He was just trying to tell him that we were going out and Otto freaked and started yelling at him. He looked so hurt. He thinks Otto's never going to talk to him again."

Raymundo sighed. "I'm getting to old for this," he mumbled to himself. "Okay, Otto. Your turn."

"Twister and Reggie have been sneaking around behind my back for weeks! They didn't even tell me!"

"Wait, weeks?" Raymundo interjected. Reggie nodded bashfully. "So while you two were supposed to be working at the Shack as a punishment-"

"Raymundo, can we focus on the situation!" Reggie interrupted.

"Don't think we won't be discussing that later, young lady. Alright Otto, continue."

"Reggie's over here trying to steal my best bro away from me and my 'best bro' is over there trying to do I don't want to know what with my sister!"

"Otto! Please!" Reggie snapped at Otto. "You know Twister! You've known him your whole life! You know he's not going to try to do anything I'm not okay with! You're just mad because you think that just because we're dating, all of the sudden we're never gonna hang with you anymore!"

"Well you're not!" he pouted.

"Get a clue, dork. He's been hanging out with you all day every single day this week!"

"Well that's just because you're still grounded! Once you're free, you're going to steal him away again!"

"The three of us will still hang like always! Nothing's going to change!"

"It already has changed! You've changed! He's changed! You two are a couple now! All you're going to do is mushy couple stuff and all he's going to talk about is you! And what am I supposed to do if you two break up? Huh? Choose between my sister and my life-long best friend? Nothing's going to be the way it was before!"

After a few seconds of silence, Raymundo took over again. "Why don't you two head to your rooms? You can sleep on it and talk about this tomorrow."

Reggie couldn't fall asleep. She kept thinking about what Otto had said. He was right, it wouldn't be the same as before. Sure, he had exaggerated what it would be like, but she hadn't thought about how Otto might start to feel like a third wheel sometimes. She hadn't even considered the possibility of them breaking up, at least not from his perspective. She jumped into this thinking about her and Twister and how they felt about each other. She hadn't thought about how her brother would feel. She heard a soft knock at her door.

"Come in."

"Reggie," Raymundo said, flipping on the lamp as he sat on the edge of her bed. "I know your brother can be a handful. He gets all worked up sometimes and can be sort of-" he was trying to look for the right word.

"A drama-queen?" Reggie finished for him.

Raymundo smiled. "I know it might not always seem like it, but he really cares about you. And he cares about Twister. He's just afraid of things changing. He'll cool off eventually. Just give him some time." She nodded, unconvinced. "Hey, why don't you spend some time with him tomorrow? Try to show him that you guys can all still have fun together, despite a little change."

"But I have to go into the Shack tomorrow."

"You only have a few days left, right? I think I can make an exception and let you off a little early. I hate seeing you kids fight."

"Otto's not going to want to talk to me. Or to Twister for that matter."

"He'll come around. Just try."

"Okay. Thanks, Dad," she said, giving him a hug.


	9. Chapter 9

Reggie woke up early to go downstairs and make breakfast to try and cheer up Otto. Although she still thought he was being completely unreasonable, she kind of saw his point. She didn't need to argue with him, she just wanted to try to get him in a good enough mood that he could talk to her and maybe they could all hang out and he would see that it was fine. She put the pancakes she had made in the oven on the lowest setting so they'd stay warm until he got up. She poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table, reading a book while waiting. When she heard him coming downstairs, she got up and poured him a glass of orange juice, handing it to him when he got to the kitchen.

"Hey, Rocket boy. I made pancakes," she said cheerfully.

He looked at her. "Uh, is it my birthday?"

She pulled out the pancakes and he put a few on his plate, taking a seat, and digging into them.

"Wh d oo ake ese?" he said with his mouth full.

"Huh?"

He swallowed. "Why'd you make these?"

"I just wanted to apologize. I didn't think about how this would affect you and I'm sorry. But Otto, I really like Twister. I know it's still new, but things are going really great between us. I've known him forever, I already know all his flaws and all the things that drive me crazy about him. I don't want to break up with him. I know I can't know what the future holds, but I'm really hoping we'll stay together. I'm sorry I've put you in this position though." Otto smiled at her, giving her a look. "What?" she asked.

"I just heard you say that you really liked Twister."

"And?"

"You, my snarky older sister who turned down every guy at school, have the hots for my dorky, ginger, lame-o best bud."

"So we're cool again?" she asked.

"We're cool. Although you did kind of cheat, bribing me like this."

"I did not bribe you!"

"Reg, you put chocolate chips in these."

She rolled her eyes. "Maybe there was a _little_ bribery."

He took his last bite and put the plate in the dishwasher.

"Where are you going?" Reggie asked.

"I gotta go apologize to Twist. I was pretty hard on him."

Half an hour later, Otto and Twister bursted through the door.

"Reggie? What are you doing here?" Twister asked.

"I live here, genius," Reggie teased him.

"Yo Twist, I'm gonna go grab those tapes from skateboarding the other day. I wanna show you where I think I went wrong on that 1440."

"What gives? Why aren't you at the Shack?" Twister asked as Otto went upstairs.

"Raymundo let me off early," she said in a hushed tone. "Don't tell Otto. He didn't question it, but he always gets mad when he stays grounded longer than me."

"Your secrets safe with me," he said wrapped his arms around her waist and pressing his lips to hers.

"Nasty!" Otto said walking back into the kitchen. "Do you have to do that around me?"

"Sorry man, we thought you were gone," Twister teased him as he continued to hold an arm around Reggie's waist.

"Ugh, you two are unbearable, already," Otto groaned. "Now come on, I gotta show you this tape."

"Hey! Did you guys have pancakes without me?" Twister complained looking at Reggie's scraps and helping himself to them.

"Sorry Twist, it's a Rocket thing," Otto said, winking at Reggie.

"Come on, Reg. Let's team up against Otto. We can make... waffles! It can be a couple thing!"

She rolled her eyes as her and Otto laughed. Twister grabbed the bag of chocolate chips with one hand, using his other hand to intertwine his fingers with Reggie's as Otto dragged them to the tv.


End file.
